From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 4, 2024
Liberman pledges to abolish Nation-State Law, establish new Druze village
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman pledges to abolish Israel’s Nation-State Law, a Basic Law enshrining Israel as the Jewish national state that has been fiercely criticized as discriminating against minorities — particularly Druze citizens who regularly serve in senior positions in the Israeli military and other state agencies.
Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, the hawkish opposition politician states that he and Yisrael Beytenu MK Hamad Amar, a member of the Druze community, visited the family of Col. Ehsan Daqsa, the commander of the Israel Defense Force’s 401st Armored Brigade, recently killed in Gaza.
“I sat with his family. They all served in the IDF — most of them officers — and I couldn’t help but feel the deep insult,” Liberman states.
“We will work to abolish the Nation-State Law, which has nothing to do with the character of the State of Israel,” and enact another Basic Law more in line with the values of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, he pledges, adding that he will also work to establish a new Druze village.
